Living on Borrowed Time
by Kennedy Potter
Summary: The under 25's were going missing without trace. They seemed to be living on time that some deemed to be not their own.
1. Chapter 1

It was dark outside, the sky completely black. Estella knew that leaving the house at this time was almost a death sentence for over 25's…but she was lucky. She was only 23 and wasn't scared to go outside at night. That was until the past few weeks where people her age- 'babies' (people who were still not in time) were disappearing without trace. That night her mom asked her to watch her younger sister, Adele. She agreed and was trying to entertain the 6 year old when Adele became distracted by a light coming from outside in the alley behind their apartment.

"Adele, don't move from this table." Estella said getting up to grab a sweater from the other room. It was chilly outside, therefore chilly inside the apartment. She hated seeing her little sister shiver.

"Okay Stella" Adele said kicking her feet under the wooden table and staring at the window overlooking the street. Rushing from the room and grabbing the tattered purple sweater from the creaky old bed she ran back to the kitchen.

"It's getting old Adele, but it's still…" the chair was empty and the front door was unlatched and hanging open. A shiver ran down her spine as she saw the plate still full of food her sister had not ate. She made a dash for the door and called out quickly.

"Adele!" she said running outside and clutching the sweater still closer in her hands. Adele was a real baby, only 6. If anything happened to her, she wouldn't know what to do with herself. The gravel crunched beneath her feet and the wind made an eary snapping noise against the back of her neck. It was cold out and Estella was only wearing a pair of old shorts and a chunky sweater. Her favorite sweater, it kept her warm and was a present from her father. She cherished it and it was her sole prized possession. Running towards the alley way she heard a crying noise coming from the other side of the alley. It wasn't just any crying noise, it was her sisters. She looked towards the other end of the alley and saw her little sister being held by a blonde haired, evil eyed boy. Immediately she knew who it was, and her stomach sank.

"LET HER GO!" She said running forward towards her sisters outstretched arms. She was quickly detained by a minute men. "Fortis please…let her go."

"Babies you see." He said sitting her on the hood of the car and turning his attention to me, before hopping off the hood of the car. "They have a use other than wasting borrowed time."

It was Fortis and the other three minute men who terrorized everyone. They stole time from hardworking people, drained them of the time- thus killing them. She had learned how to avoid them, most people had. She knew when they made their rounds and she made sure she was not in those areas at that time. However, up until a few weeks ago she had no reason for worry. She was living on no time, she was a baby. People had been disappearing and were gone without any indication. They didn't know who was committing these crimes, but it clicked in her mind…it was him. It was the four minutemen who had made people's lives a living hell.

"You see." He said tracing a face over the sweater on my arm and yanking it up to reveal numbers not yet started. "You are living on borrowed time, time that is mine. Time that once you turn 25…will be mine."

I watched at Adele sat stunned on the hood of the orange car, she was shocked and scared. Giving her a look that meant 'Run when I nod my head', and then her attention was drawn back by Fortis who roughly grabbed her by the chin, inching closer to her ear. He started to whisper in a very low tone, causing the hairs on her arms to stand up.

"I swear to god you try and escape and she won't live to see the next day." I pulled away, looking towards the brick wall.

"What do you want?" Looking back towards him and wrenching my arm from his grip. "I'm not 25."

He laughed and looked down at his own clock, which read '12 years, 10 months, 3 hours, 35 minutes and 10 seconds.' "You'll find out the purpose of why we need you two soon enough. Liuti, grab the rat."

"ADELE RUN!" I said kneeing Fortis in the stomach before darting to the hood of the car and grabbing Adele by the arm. Before she knew it, she was running like she had never run before. Adele in her arms whaling and screaming. There were screams coming from behind her and she knew they were closing in on her. She lowered Adele down and continued to run.

"Adele, you go inside and lock the door." She said looking over her shoulder and seeing them come closer. "Don't open the door for anyone. Go."

She ran from me, making a break for the apartment square. Before I knew it, Fortis had a hold on my hair and was dragging me back towards the car. I put up a protest, screaming and kicking as I went. If he was going to kidnap me, it wouldn't be without a fight.

"You will pay for that." He roughly threw me into the car and jumped into the passenger's side. I looked up towards the window I often looked out, as a child. I saw a blonde head and two sets of fingers peering over the edge of the window sill. I kept my eyes on my little sister as the car drove away, driving me towards an unknown location.


	2. It's All About Time, dear

Tears were dripping from my eyes faster than I could blink them away. I could hear my breathing getting thicker and thicker now, my body was quickly recognizing that I had been kidnapped and was certainly heading to my death. I threw a punch at the minute men sitting closest to the door and managed to get the door open, flinging it wide for the world to hear my screams. Knowing full well of course no one would step up to help. It was life or death world where she lived. People say that, but few rarely truly mean it. However out here, it was literally life or death. People like Fortis thrived, stealing time from those who had been starved from it from the time they turned 25. My fingers grabbed the ground before I felt myself being pulled back into the car.

"We have a rowdy one boys." Fortis said switching seats with one of the minutemen and grabbing my arm roughly and pinning it behind my back. I could almost feel the evil that ran in his veins, and it scared me. The look on his face was one of pure malice, jaw clenched and muscles tensed. He had to be at least 75 years old. He didn't look or act over the age of 25 though, like everyone else in this dreaded place. "Stop the car."

The driver pulled the car over in a secluded corner of an alley, blocking the exit so there was no way for me to get out. I felt myself being pushed from the car onto the cold, rocky ground. My lip made contact with a sharp rocking, causing it to split and blood started to pour from it. The door slammed and I heard Fortis' shoes make a connection with the ground. He pulled something from his waistline that reflected. It was a knife; he was going to kill me. All my life I had heard of people dying like this, but never did I think it would happen to me. Babies were sometimes killed out of jealousy that they lived seemingly for free. That is what was happening right now. I scrambled back, my back flat against the fence.

"Please, please don't kill me." I braced my hands over my face when I heard him drop the knife on the ground behind him and bend down to eye level. Slowly I raised my head and looked at him, cautiously. His hands were up in the air, knife on the ground behind him.

"I am not going to kill you now." He said still staring at me. "But if you try one more time to escape, I assure you it will be the last thing you do."

He picked the knife up from behind him and moved closer towards me, a sly sick smile appearing on his face. He held the knife up to the side of my face, and down to where my lip was bleeding.

"We wouldn't want to waste all that precious time, now would we?" he said twisting the knife back to its original placement and placing it in the pocket of his jeans. I watched and thought about grabbing the knife, but he was too quick for me. "Don't think about it Stella."

"Don't call me that. You don't know me." I said at the same being thrown back into the car.

"Feisty." He said sitting on the left side of the backseat, placing me in the middle wedged between himself and one of his stupid friends. We must have been in the car for an hour before it slowly pulled to a stop in front of an abandoned hotel. There were no other buildings around and even the look of the building made me feel uncomfortable.

"Get out." One of the others said, and I listened slowly ambling out of the car and staring up at the building. I felt Fortis take hold of my arm and steer me blindly towards the building. The sky was getting darker and darker as the time went on. Hopefully Adele had eventually listened and locked herself in her room, until Mom came home. I was snapped back into the cold, hard reality of my situation when I heard screaming coming from a room inside the building. My eyes widened as I saw a girl being dragged by one of the minute men into a room off to the side.

"Fortis, 20 minutes." He said before disappearing into the room.

"Okay, I'll be there. Showing this one to her room." His fingers digging into the side of my arm, he pushed me forward up the steps and towards a door on the left hand side of the hallway. There was crying coming from it, but it stopped once Fortis' hand turned the knob on the door. He threw the door open and stepped in front of me.

"Why the crying ladies?" he said walking forward, dragging me with him. "I have to take my leave, but here is your new roommate. Estella Grace Lenox, make her feel right at home."

The door slammed and I looked at all the girls whose faces were streaked with tears. Silence toned the room for a few minutes as I took in my surroundings and stood stunned.

"What is going on?" I said finally breaking the hush and looking down at the girls. I recognized each of them, there was about 6 of them. They were on the news for being kidnapped. "How did he know my name?"

"Girls, I'm going to talk to Estella and you guys just stay here." One girl stepped up, grabbing my hand and leading me over to a bed. She sat indian style on the bed and grabbed my hand in hers. "Well, Estella, I'm sure you recognize the men who brought you here."

I nodded my head in recognition and listened as she told me the story of why I was brought here.

"You're under 25, and you were just taken by minutemen. They wait for us to come of age and take our time." She looked towards the comforter, picking at a loose thread on the comforter. "I'm 6 months from 25 which means I'm next. The girl you heard screaming was the first to go, her name was Ameria ."

It all made sense, that's why babies had gone missing. They were keeping them till they turned 25 and stripping them of their free time.

"No, we have to get out of here." Estella stood up and looked at the other girls who were all listening intently and sitting on their beds.


	3. Disobedience

"Don't let him hear you saying that." She said very seriously, moving away from the bed and towards the gaggle of girls gathered on the floor. I could recognize one of the girls, her name was Tetra and she had been the youngest to be kidnapped. She was 23, the same age as me. The news said she was walking home from a late night party when a group of people saw her being pulled into a car. Of course, on the news they said there were no witnesses. No one would risk their own skin for a girl they hardly knew. The other girls were 24, going to turn 25 within the year. The odd thing was that none of the girls were ever heard or seen again. No body, no murmurs of their disappearance in the underground; nothing. It was as though they didn't exist. The room looked like a fucked up boarding school dorm room made for ten girls. Six of the beds were taken and the bed sheets looked to be about forty years old. What was forty years when you were basically age less?

"Stella." One girl said standing up and running over to me. I felt her arms close around my waist and her head nestle into my shoulder. I broke apart from her and looked at her; it was Jaz. A close friend who had gone missing; I had completely looked over her when I was pushed into the room. She was 23 when she was kidnapped but it had been 6 months since she was last seen.

"Jaz." I said grabbing both of her arms with mine and smiling at her. It was a relief to know she had been alive but sad to know that she was in the same rotten situation as herself.

"Stell, you have to watch what you say." She said looking towards the door before lowering her voice and whispering in my ear. "I tried to escape, and they took me on a clock run with them. They threatened to kill my entire family if I tried it again."

I gasped and pulled her back into a hug before she led me over to sit with the other girls who were staring at the door as though one of the minute men would walk in at any second. I was still in shock at the current situation I was placed in. Kidnapped, and in two years' time I would be robbed of my life.

"Ok well, let me tell you about some things that will keep you alive here." The girl who had talked to Stella first looked directly at her and continued on. "Don't make a lot of noise. Don't try to escape and most certainly don't go against Fortis."

"I'm going to escape; it's just a matter of when. I'm not going to go without you guys." Estella said defiantly. The girl gave a tiny giggle and shook her head in a 'You will learn' sort of way. The door flew open and Fortis was standing in the door way. He looked as though he had just ran a marathon and was exhilarated.

"I'm going to take Stella here and have a chat." He yanked me from the floor and threw me out into the hallway. I regained my balance and grabbed the wall, looking back at him. "Into that room…now."

I pushed the door open and saw a rather large and handsome desk with a chair in front of it and behind. There were time capsules on the desk, some used…some not. Fortis swept over the entrance to the door and shut it quickly. The room was large, and a picture window overlooked the shallow water that flowed through the ghetto. I sat down in the chair and looked at anywhere besides the desk he was sitting behind.

"Now come on, we can be good friends . You have two years here until your time runs out." He said raising an eyebrow deceitfully. "At which time you, immediately when you turn 25 your time will be mine."

"So you're going to keep me alive for two years for a year of time?" I said looking back at him and trying to act as though I wasn't scared. Truth was, I was utterly frightened and it was taking all my strength not to shake.

"Oh don't look at it like that. Look at it as a business deal." He said leaning forward placing a hand on the desk, twirling a pen in his hand.

"A business deal, fuck you!" I scoffed, taken back at his sheer lack of tact. He was planning to kill me and couldn't even have the decency to say he was doing something wrong.

"Well if you must." He placed both hands behind his head.

"You are the utter definition of arrogance and you disgust me." I crossed my arms and leaned back in the chair, hearing it creak.

"Don't you wonder why we picked you?" He was walking around the desk, sitting on the edge closest to me and placing his hand on his chin. I looked at the door through the corner of my eye and decided to make a break for it. My hand was on the knob but he had me around the waist and threw me back down onto the floor. "WHAT do I need to do to teach you to listen?"

I grabbed my head, feeling a small lump forming on the back of it. He was pacing the room, before stopping in front of the door and looking down at me. It was quickly getting very dark, and dreary.

"Get up…now." He pulled out his gun, pointing it at me while I stood up. He grabbed my shoulder with one hand, and the gun at my side. He flung the door open and walked me towards the stairs. Something bad was going to happen, whether or not it was me was yet to be determined. The stepped squeaked as we walked down them, the three other minutemen standing at the bottom.

"Well, looks like we have a guest accompanying us on our rounds tonight." Fortis said motioning towards me. I pulled away from the gun, but he quickly tightened his grip on my shoulder and steered me towards the door.

"I think we will pay a visit to an old friend of yours Stella." Fortis said ducking my head into the back seat and sitting beside me. "Kieran, am I right boys?"

My stomach dropped, and my mouth immediately dropped open. He knew how to play this game, and play it well. Kieran was my best friend; we had known each other since I could remember. Our fathers worked together when we were younger and our mothers took us out on play dates. Kieran was two years older, but we were always close. He watched over me as if I was his little sister.

"No." I said turning to him. "Please, no. I'll listen, I swear." I said starting to cry again.

"You see, you said that a few hours ago too. The time for deals has come and gone, I warned you." He said looked towards the road as we pulled out from the yard in front of the house. I buried my face in my hands and tried not to cry. Maybe Kieran wouldn't be able to be found and they would turn around. Better yet, maybe someone will notice her and call someone. Both situations were very unlikely. Most people knew that Kieran gave out extra time at this time of night on the corner of Fourth Street. The car slowly pulled to a stop and before anyone could notice, three minutemen were out of the car. They had the crowd up against the fence, and to my disappointment…Kieran was one of them. He had his hands up in the air and was looking towards the car. Fortis grabbed my arm and led me out of the car. There were three people, not including Kieran and they all looked dead scared.

"Stella!" Kieran said rushing forward, but was stopped by Liuti and pushed back onto the fence. "Stell, are you ok?"

I looked towards the ground, avoiding his question. Fortis stepped forward and raised the gun to the three people standing around Kieran.

"One word of any of this and I will find each one of you and take your clock before you can even think twice. Go." They all scattered, leaving nothing but dust behind. "Now, we are left with the happy couple and sadly, …we have quite the dilemma. It seems your friend here, cannot for the life of her take direction. I gave me many chances but she tried to escape one time too many. Now you see, we have a use for her. The problem is, we don't have one for you."

Kieran looked at me and swallowed before blinking slowly. He clearly was very confused, but he knew that I had been missing. His fingers were grasping at the fence behind him and he most definitely wanted to hug me.

"Please. Don't. Kill me instead, please. Leave Kieran." I said turning to face Fortis and for the first I realized the magnanimity of the situation. I was a dead girl walking, two years and I'd be gone. I couldn't let him take Kieran. He had nothing to do with this situation.

He raised his hand to my face, causing me to flinch but he just pulled it towards his mouth so I could hear his whispered voice.

"I warned you. Once when you let your rat of a sister go, the second time when you tried to break free in the alley way and the final straw was the episode in the room at the house. Now shut your mouth before I'm forced to do it." The dark haired minute men stepped forward grabbing Kierans arm. Kieran was pleading with him, begging him not to.

"NO, PLEASE." I ran forward but it didn't matter, I was far too weak. Fortis pulled me back, laughing and twirling a piece of my hair between his fingers.

"Clear it." He said simply before holding my face forward, forcing me to watch one of my best friends be killed. I cringed when I saw the clock hit zero and Kieran fall to the ground, life less. Fortis waited till all the other minute men had gotten in the car before turning to me. He was clearly mad, and wasn't in a joking mood.

"One more time and I will kill your mother and sister in front of you. Hear me?" I nodded my head, looking at Kieran on the ground. He pushed me back into the car and we headed back towards the house.


	4. Consequences

It was completely silent in the car, as we drove our way back to the house. Eerily silent, they didn't kill Kieran for his time; he could have had more than two days on this clock. They killed him because of me, because I didn't listen. I looked down at my wrist, seeing a bruise from having my arm pinned behind my back. How had it gotten this far? How could I last two years in this hell hole? The world was still going round without me, time was still ticking away. My world was collapsing around me. Kidnapped, left my family without me and watched my best friend be murdered. It was as though the world was holding a secret vendetta against me. The car screeched to a halt, and stopped in front of the house. I went to get out but Fortis grabbed my shoulder, holding me back.

"You wait a moment." He said signaling the others to go on. "What have you learned?"

I stayed silent, looking aimlessly out of the window. I wasn't going to dignify him with an answer. He didn't deserve it, he had taken everything from me. My family, friends and my sense of security. I was slapped back into reality when I felt his hand connect with the side of my face.

"Answer me." He said a look of pure evil alive in his eyes.

"To bite my tongue." I said putting my hand up to my face where he had slapped me. He ran his hands through his hair and shook his head slightly.

"You will not try to escape, you will not talk back and if you so much as leave the house when you are ordered to stay inside." His fingers were rubbing at a spot near his temple. "And if you do, so help you god I will tear down this entire town and everything that you love."

"It's one year." I said rudely. "One year and you would kill everyone I love for one year?"

"Get out of the car and into the house now." I stepped out of the car and looked towards the road, a road that would take me to freedom. If I tried to leave, he would kill me. He would kill my family, friends and everything that I had come to love in this filthy world. I turned on my heel and headed towards the house, digging my hands in the bottom the pockets in my sweater. The door opened before I even got a chance to touch the handle. Luckily, I remembered the way to my new room so I headed up the stairs. As I was turning the corner I heard Fortis' egotistical voice come from the door way.

"I think she's learning, or if not and she tries it again we will just teach her another lesson."

"Would you really kill her entire family if she tries to run again?" one of them replied.

"No, we've had girls try to escape fifteen or twenty times. I'm just trying to teach her a lesson." I walked away at that and knocked on the door to the room and slowly walked in. I was still in a daze from the events I just saw take place.

"Stell, what happened?" Jaz said jumping off the floor and grabbing my arm and looking me in the eyes. She knew something had happened and she pulled me into a hug.

"I told you." The oldest girl said standing up, crossing her arms and looking down at me. "Who did they kill?"

I stared down at the wooden floor, not wanting to answer her question. She stated it as if it were nothing. As if watching someone you loved being timed out was nothing.

"Shutup Kota." Jaz said pulling me away into the far corner of the room.

"Kieran." I said staring blankly at a spot on the wall, not wanting to come to terms with the fact that he was gone. Her mouth dropped and she once again pulled me into a hug. We sat there for a few minutes before a bell went off and all the girls stood up. Jaz explained to me that it was dinner time and that everyone was supposed to head towards the kitchen. They all walked out the door and towards the kitchen to sit and eat. I sat down next to Jaz and stared down at the plate before me. I could hear the sounds of all the girls eating around me, and saw Fortis watching from the door way.

"Stella?" he said standing up straight. "Aren't you hungry?"

I continued to stare daggers into the plate, and to be perfectly honest. I couldn't be any less hungry. After all that had happened today, the sight of food made her want to puke. He was slowly walking towards her, the girls around here stunned. Their eyes were wide open and she could see Kota shaking her head from the corner of the table. He placed a hand on my shoulder and leaned towards me.

"Eat." He said tightening his grip.

"No, go to hell." I said quietly.

"Get up, now." He pulled me from the table and towards the entrance way. I wasn't hungry and I wasn't going to eat because he told me to. He was talking to Mahlin, his second in charge. Mahlin was cracking his knuckles and laughing.

"See, Stella. I don't know what to do." Fortis said walking forward and staring into the mirror behind me. "I've given you plenty of chances, and you will do as I say. So, Mahlin here is going to teach you a lesson and if you don't understand by the end of that then we might take a visit to your apartment? How does that sound?"

He walked out of the room, leaving me with Mahlin who was almost as evil as Fortis. He was brutal and looked to be about three times my size. I sat down in the chair next to the window and stared at him from the corner of my eyes.

"Get up." He said pulling me from the chair by my wrist and leading me down the hall into the room I saw the screaming girl go into. I tried to resist, knowing that whatever he had in store would be horrible. As much as I didn't want to rebel, and didn't want to make them mad I couldn't help but doing it. I was rebellious by nature, and that was just how I was. He snapped the door shut and shook his head while laughing at the same time.

"You people never learn." He said coming towards me.

"I will never listen to you or anyone in this place for that matter." I said standing my ground. He pulled his arm back, and hit me in the same place that Fortis slapped me earlier. I doubled over before he punched me in the stomach. "Now go eat. Get one of your friends to fix you when you get back to your room."

I entered the kitchen and received looks of worry from the other girls who had not yet started eating. I sat down in my chair and lifted a fork full of mashed potatoes to my lips. As soon as I did, the others did too. I ate very quickly, emptying my plate of food and waiting for the others to be done. I drained my glass of water and sat back in my chair. My face was throbbing and my ribs were aching. Everyone got up from the table and headed back towards the room. Once the door was shut and locked for the night they all turned towards me. A girl walked over to her bed and from under it pulled a medical kit. She walked over to me and put something around my black eye. I winced at her touch, but she said it would take some of the pain away.


End file.
